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NASB | Hebrews 11:39 ¶ And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Hebrews 11:39 ¶ And all of these, though they gained [divine] approval through their faith, did not receive [the fulfillment of] what was promised, |
Bible Question:
Dear TRU4GOD, Greetings in Jesus' name! I agree that the saints of old were searching for the Messiah, and that He is come. But are we indeed 'entitled' to physical blessings because He has come? I know this is a popular theme on the TV circus shows, but is this really the promise of the Gospel? As you quoted from Hebrews 11:13, "All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth." (NASB) Does this not still apply to the present-day church? Are we not still 'Strangers and Aliens in a strange land?' It seems to me that the 'blessings' (plural) that the world seeks are not holy in themselves, but they CAN be a by-product of faith in Christ. BUT, not necessarily! O saints in 'blessed lands' (such as America), do not be enamored with the promises (desires!) of the world! Is not Jesus enough? In Christ Jesus, charis |
Bible Answer: Such things as, power over all powers of the enemy, healing, protection, long life, good health, prosperity, etc.? Your main question is, is Jesus not enough? Yes, He is more than enough. I didn’t get saved because I needed a new car or because I wanted the tangible things to make me feel good. Jesus showed me his love through his word and convinced me to trust him to take away the pains of the past and still today he has done all of that and more. MATTHEW 6:30-33, If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. I don’t seek God’s hand, I seek Him for who He is to me, but as you have read, Jesus said to seek Him and all these things will be given to you as well. I didn’t say it, He did. He knows we have needs and His word comes with promises that we can have. Here this, how would you feel if you bought your husband a gift. You took your time and energy picking out this gift, you were excited because you knew he would be excited and when you gave him the gift, he responded, “I don’t need or want this, why did you waste your time on tangible things, take it back.” That is what you are saying to Jesus when you don’t receive all that He has for you. Yes, you can still go to heaven without ever receiving any of His promises besides salvation, but even Jesus gave the disciples a modeled prayer in Matthew 6:10, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You don’t have to wait until you get to heaven to receive. Why wouldn’t you want to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to defeat the enemy’s plan to kill, steal and destroy you (John 10:10)? The bible says in Isaiah 53:5, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him and by His stripes we were healed. Why would He go through all of that for us to say, “that’s okay, I would rather be sick because all I need is you, well He is Jehovah Raphe, Our healer. Healing is Him. Who is getting the glory by you being sick and denying the power of God in you to make you well if you believe. Deut 8:18, says that He has given us power to get wealth so that His covenant may be established which He swore unto our fathers. He said the wealth of the wicked was laid up for the just. In Gen. 8:22, it says as long as the earth remains there shall be seedtime and harvest. We are not possessors of anything, just stewards over what God has given us. He blesses us to bless someone. Nothing He gives us is for personal gain (fleshly desires), but He said in Psalm 37:4,that if we delight ourselves in Him, He would give us the desires of our heart. I believe when you are in fellowship with God, your desires will line up with His will/desires for you. He is not going to give you something that is outside of His will. I do see your point and there is a fine line between God blessing us with things and the world/fleshly desires giving us what we want and then saying God did it. We live in this world, but we are not of this world, so we are strangers, but we are not strangers of God, so why let the world’s wickedness and wrongdoing, deny us the right to have immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us (Eph. 3:20). Even James was aware of people that are seeking God for things rather to be righteous like God. James 4:3 says you ask and receive not because you ask so that you may consume it upon your lusts. On the other hand, James also says, James 4:2, you do not have, because you do not ask God. Bottom line: We should be careful that our motives in serving God are right and that we would be careful to do what He asks so that He would get the glory! We have been bought with a price, it is not about our self-gain, but God’s goodness and sharing our testimonies of Christ with others to encourage others to come to Him and be saved. I don’t seek for gifts, but the gift giver. I really can’t think of any reason why I would tell my Father no. So don’t fear what people might say if you believe that God’s promises are still for today. Look up the word salvation (soteria) in Greek, it means 1) TO DELIVER (Didomi) - to give something to someone of one's own accord to give one something, to his advantage, to bestow a gift, to grant, give to one asking, let have. 2) HEALTH 3) TO BE SAVED 4) DELIVERANCE |